In Life and Death
by Coffee Lover
Summary: Jackson Rippner is a wanted man, and not just by the police. The company who hired him to manage the Keefe assassination is not pleased, and they want him dead. Unfortunately, Jackson is still in the hospital, recovering. What is he to do? LJ
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Everything Red Eye belongs to Wes Craven, so don't sue me. I have no money.

Prologue

Jackson Rippner lay alone in the small dark hospital room. He had been banished for the past three weeks to room 4080 (The irony that he had to stay in that room caused him to laugh, which made the nurses think him to be crazy), slowly recooperating from his injures. Injures he had received from Lisa Riesert and her father.

Jackson's room was small, and empty. The only occupant of the room was Jackson himself, who lay uncomfortably on the hospital bed. No one had sent him any flowers or cards. That thought made Jackson snort. As if anyone would send him flowers. Him, Jackson Rippner, the man who managed assassinations. It would be a cold day in hell before anyone wished him to get well.

One thing Jackson did not like was failure, and yet, he had done just that. He had failed. He had failed to get Keefe assassinated, and he had failed to keep Lisa Reisert under control. It's not as if he hadn't tried. He was honestly surprised that someone like Lisa Reisert had almost managed to kill him.

Jackson shifted on his bed uncomfortably, his hand shooting up to scratch at his neck. His throat was covered in a layer of bandages, bandages hat hid the spot where he had been stabbed with a pen.

Who knew that a pen could cause so much damage? He wouldn't have admitted it, but every time he saw a pen he would inwardly flinch. He had to laugh at his behavior. He, the cold hearted assassination manager, had been brought to this.

The bandages covering his stab wound was itching his skin underneath, and it was starting to drive him crazy. He roughly ripped the bandages off and sighed in content as the cool air met his neck, the itching disappearing instantly. He knew he would be getting an ear full in the morning from the tubby nurse who, unfortunately, took care of him every day. This was the fifth time he was undone his bandages. He could practically hear her high pitched screaming. How he would just love to take his KA-BAR and stick it right into her...

The creek of a door echoed through the room, almost deafening in the still quietness of the room, shaking Jackson out of his wonderful thoughts. He turned his head to the side as the door squeaked further open, his cold blue eyes searching for whoever had interrupted his self misery.

"Well, well, well. Jackson Rippner. Oh, how the mighty have fallen," said a man. He stepped out from the shadows and leaned up against the door frame, sneering at Jackson.

Jackson glared at the man, recognizing him instantly. If he remembered correctly, the man's name was Raymond. He worked for the company who had hired Jackson to manage the assassination of Keefe.

Jackson glared at the man, causing Raymond to flinch. Though he was virtually helpless, stuck in this godforsaken hospital, Jackson Rippner was still able to strike fear into his enemy's. He took a small amount of pride in this.

"What do you want?" Jackson rasped out. His throat was dry, but the pen wound had made his voice seem harsher than his usual tone.

"They're mad, Jack," Raymond drawled out as he pushed off the wall and inched closer to the hospital bed.

Jackson clinched his fist at the use of his nickname, causing Raymond to smirk.

"You failed, Rippner," Raymond continued. "They're not happy with you at all."

"Not my problem," Jackson hissed.

"Oh, but it is. I don't think you understand, "Raymond laughed. "If you make it out of here alive, you will not have the luxury of spending the rest of your life in jail. You failed your job, and you're going to pay for it with your life."

Raymond decided to say no more, enjoying the someone confused look on Jacksons face. He quickly turned around and made his exit, leaving Jackson alone once more.

Honestly, Jackson was not surprised that they would have wanted him dead after he had failed the mission. He was, however, offended that they had to send one of their lower members to tell him. Did they think he was stupid.

Jackson sighed softly and settled into his bed, trying to get comfortable. He lay his head down on his pillow, and let sleep take over his body, a smile on his face as his last bit of consciousness slipped away.

- - -

A/N: This story came to me in a dream . . . actually, more like a day dream that I was having in the middle of Algebra II. I'm not the best writer in the world, so if there are any problems don't hesitate to point it out to me.

Honestly, I have not scene the movie Red Eye. GASP! I know? How crazy is that? I have, however, read a few reviews and gotten the movie explained to me in great detail by some friends. Mostly all I know about the movie has come from all the fan fics that I have read.

Anyways, this chapter was kind of short, but I just wanted to write something small that would set up the rest of the story. Hope you enjoy it.

p.s. Review, and I won't tell the assassin I have stationed outside of your house to kill you. 'Kay?


	2. Chapter One: Jackson's Demise

**Disclaimer:** You know the deal; I don't own Red Eye or any characters in it. They, sadly, belong to Wes Craven.

**Chapter One: Jackson's Demise**

" –_In other news, the man responsible for the Lux Atlantic Hotel terrorist attack, Jackson Rippner, died early this morning at 3:55am at a local hospital in downtown Miami. Doctors were surprised at his unexpected death, and the cause of death is still unknown–"_

Lisa Reisert sat, frozen in time. Her mouth was open, and her hand holding a cracker just inches away from her lips as she stared in shock at the T.V. in front of her. She had been sitting in the break room of the Lux Atlantic, deciding to take a short break and escape the stresses of hotel managing, when she had heard the very surprising news.

Jackson Rippner was **_dead_**.

It seemed as if time itself had stopped as Lisa's mind began its downward spiral back to reality. She couldn't hear anything, only the thumping of her own heart thumping in her ears. Yes, she was shocked and surprised that he was dead, but she was even more surprised to find out that she didn't seem excited about the news. She should be doing back flips down the hall; the man that had tried to kill her and her father was dead! For goodness sake, the man had held her hostage and almost forced her to take part in an assassination. So, why did she feel so…sad?

Reaching a shaky hand up to her forehead, crackers forgotten, she gently massaged her temples. She could feel a headache coming on.

Luckily Cynthia chose that very moment to burst into the room, the door slamming hard against the wall with a bang, forcing her to take her mind of the current events.

"Lisa, we need your help," she stressed in a panicked voice, "A man is at the front desk, and he keeps on asking me where his wife is. I don't know what to do! Apparently, he is under the impression that she is here with another man."

"I'll se what I can do," Sighing heavily, Lisa stood up and motioned for Cynthia to lead the way. "Call security, to be on the safe side," she added as an after thought.

They had entered the main hall and Lisa could identify the man in question before Cynthia even pointed him out. He looked older, most likely in his mid 40's. He wore a flannel shirt and dirty jeans that looked two sizes too big. Something told her that this was not going to go over very well.

"Hi. I'm Lisa Reisert, the manager, what seems to be the problem sir?" she asked in what she assumed was her kindest voice.

The man's brows furrowed as he removed his hat from his head and reached up to scratch his balding scalp. "Wha' happened to that there pretty little red head?" he said in an accent that you would normally associate with the deep, deep south.

Lisa grimaced when she saw the man was missing a tooth or four. "She had other business to attend to, so I will be helping you sir."

"Well, ain't that kind of yeh. firs', you can start bah' giv'in me the key to mah wife's room."

"Sir, I'm afraid I can't do that. It is against our policy to give away room keys to anyone other than the person who bought it." Lisa said, he checks starting to burn from the smile that she was forcing on her face.

"But she's mah wife! An' she's a cheatin on me!" he yelled in outrage.

_And I can see why she would want to… _Lisa thought. "Sir, I'm afraid I can't help you."

She was about to escort the man out the front door, and give him her most sincere apology, but the man took off running to the elevator screaming about his good for nothing wife and that scum bag she was cheating on him with, his boots thumping down the hallway as he ran.

Lisa sighed. It was going to be a very long night.

- - -

- - -

It had, indeed, been a very long night. Lisa was more than ready to head home and take a nice relaxing hot bath before she slept all of her troubles away. Her heels clicked rhythmically on the cement floor as she walked to her car, echoing softly through the empty parking garage. She nervously fingered the can of pepper spray on her key ring as she made her way to her car, glancing over her shoulder every second or so. It had been two years since…that incident, and she still found herself being unable to forget about the past.

Every day it was the same routine. She would walk out to her car, and the paranoia would set it. She recently got a grant to keep a weapon in her car, to protect herself, but the fear was still present. How she wished that she could forget about all of this and go back to the way things used to be.

Lisa approached her car and readied her keys, and then she quickly slipped the keys in and unlocked the door. She finally let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. She had made it another day without anything happening.

As if someone had read her mind, a hand soundlessly shot out and covered her mouth, forcefully yanking her away from her car. Lisa began to struggle and scream against his hand, and tried to reach her hand out for the can of pepper spray that dangled freely from the side of her car.

The man tightened his grip on her, and then she felt the cold metal slide up against her neck and the man positioned his knife at her throat. He leaned into her ear and viciously whispered, "Stop struggling! If you move, I won't hesitate to slit your pretty little throat."

Lisa whimpered, but complied with his demands as he began to drag her further and further away from her car until they were hidden by the dark shadows of the parking garage. Silent tears ran down her face as she tried to hold back her sobs. She had promised herself that this would never happen again. Never again...

A gun shot sounded out, and Lisa closed her eyes and waiting for the pain to set in. She hadn't expected him to pull out his gun, when he already had his knife still on her neck. After several seconds, her captors grip lessened considerably and the knife slipped away from her neck. A dull thud sounded out and a pain filled moan followed.

Opening one eye she glanced around, and opened the other. She slowly turned around, and gasped. Below her, she saw her captor. Her very, very dead captor. The same one who had been alive and ready to kill her just five minutes ago, lay lifeless on the floor below her. She glanced at his back and saw a long knife protruding from his back.

Lisa screamed and stumbled back away from the dead body, only to bump into something hard. That something hard, she noticed, was a person. Whoever she had bumped into her gripped her shoulders roughly and pulled her closer to their body. She whimpered as the strong fingers slowly dug into her skin, and she could feel their breathe on her ear.

"Never again." It whispered.

Lisa pulled herself out of the tight grip and turned around, only to be confronted with the cold blue eyes of Jackson Rippner.

- - - - - -

A/N: Guess who got Red Eye on DVD today? No, not David Bowie. ME!

As you know, I had never watched the movie before. Now that I have, wow. Just wow. This movie was so…wow. I can't even begin to explain just how wow this movie was.

So, you know the deal. If you review, the assassin I have stationed outside your house will leave you alone. (He's really ugly, and he's missing at least seven teeth. Hey, maybe he's the guy from the hotel? Anyways, my point is that you don't want to mess with him, so REVIEW)


	3. Chapter Two: Surprises

**Disclaimer:** I, sadly, do not own Red Eye or any characters in it. (And if I did, do you really think I'd be writing fanfiction about it? That would be a no. I'd be making NUMEROUS sequals where Jackson becomes a STRIPPER!)

**Chapter Two: Surprises**

Lisa's hands flew to her mouth as she tried to withhold a scream. She stood there, her small body trembling, frozen at the spot.

"Hey, Leese. Long time no see," said a very alive Jackson Rippner.

Lisa still stared in shock at him and began to shuffle backwards, trying to put as much distance between herself and Jackson Rippner as possible. But with every step back, he would take one step forward. As strange as it may seem, Lisa was not afraid that Jackson would hurt her; She was more afraid to be seeing him before her.

"Y-you're dead." She stuttered out.

Jackson's only reply was a deep chuckle.

"Are…" Lisa began, stopping to look up into his wonderfully blue eyes, "Are you a ghost?"

Jackson let out another laugh which echoed through the empty parking garage. "Come on, Leese. I know that you're smarter that that."

That was when Lisa realized that Jackson had removed the KA-BAR out of the deceased body, and he was carefully wiping away the blood that stained it. By now, Lisa had backed up all the way to her car. She reached out her hand and tried to turn her car keys, which were still dangling from her car door.

Jackson's hand shot out to grab her hand and threw her up against the car. Lisa could feel a searing pain in her back as he pushed her small body into the car.

"Now," he taunted, his breathe on her face, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Lisa."

Lisa just stared into his blue eyes. She hesitantly reached her had up and touched his neck, where he proudly wore his battle scar that she had inflicted. Her feather light touches on his neck seemed to shock Jackson, as he just stared down at her. Lisa was lost in thought, but it slowly began to set in that Jackson Rippner was standing in front of her. The dead Jackson Rippner who had tried to kill her and her father was standing in front of her, and she was just sitting there caressing his neck. Lisa's had fell down to her side and she began to panic.

Jackson was shocked by her display of affection, and momentarily let his guard down as he gazed at the woman before him. He had planned to meet her here, but he didn't plan on having to kill someone in the process. He had been so shocked that he actually pulled out his gun and attempted to shot the guy. He really was a bad shot. When the bullet missed, he ended up having to stab the guy to death. It wasn't a great idea to be killing people at a time like this, but it was the only thing he could think of at that moment.

Lisa carefully pulled herself away from Jackson in his moment of vulnerability and began to run back to the hotel as fast as she could. Jackson didn't hesitate to run after her and began to catch up with her rather quickly. She tried to make it to the door, and she almost had, but Jackson caught the back of her sleeve and yanked hard, causing her to trip.

She fell hard onto the ground, the back of her head crashing into the cement as she did so. She attempted to get back up again and keep running, but the pain in her head was far to great. Gripping her head, she rolled over on her back and stared up at a smirking Jackson Rippner. She frowned up at him, and decided to wipe that smirk off of his face and kicked his legs out from under him, sending him crashing down to the floor beside her.

Jackson winced as he, too, fell to the floor. His bad leg slammed on to the ground, and he winced slightly. Lisa never ceased to amaze him when it came to fighting for her life.

Lisa rolled over and crawled away as fast as her beaten body could take her, but Jackson quickly recovered from his fall and yanked her back by the foot. Lisa screamed, and attempted to kick him, but Jackson was way to fast for her. Before her foot even made contact with him, he had grabbed a hold of it and forced her to put it down. "Now I know why women wear heels," he mused, "Self protection."

Jackson rolled on top of her, using his body weight to stop her struggles. He had pinned both of her hands down and grasped her chin roughly, forcing her eyes to make contact with his own.

"Leese, I do love these little games of yours, but I don't have time to play right now." He hissed at her.

Lisa started to wiggle, trying to get her body loose from his hold. His body was too heavy and she could barely breathe as he put even more pressure onto her small, frail body.

Jackson leaned down so that his face was merely a few inches away from her own. He could smell the scent of her shampoo in her hair. Lavender; his favorite. He lowered his face further down, his lips dangerously close to her own. He pressed his body harder against hers, secretly reveling in the feel of her body so close to his own.

"I didn't come here to hurt you Lisa, but if you don't stop fighting me, I'll be forced to do something drastic," he said.

Lisa scowled and tried pushing him away, "Get off of me!"

He laughed at her lack of strength, "You were so much tougher than this the last time we met," he said as he started stroking her face.

She was starting to panic as thoughts of the numerous things he was capable of doing to her flashed through her head, "Get off of me now, orI will scream!"

He laughed his cruel laugh again, "I don't think you will."

Jackson let go of her cheek and trailed his hand down to her neck, his lips brushing seductively against her own in a whisper of a kiss. He smirked at her, and Lisa shuddered. He proceeded to move his head down to gently nuzzle at her neck, before moving his lips to rest on the shell of her ear.

"I told you that I would steal you, Leese. You should know by now that I never lie."

Lisa gasped as he pulled his face away, and she started to push against him, attempting to get him off of her, but his body weight held her down.

"Now, now Lisa. Didn't we just have a talk about this?" he tsked, shaking a finger tauntingly in her face.

"What do you want with me?" she choked out, tears threatening to spill out at any moment.

Jackson didn't reply. He got up off the floor and brushed himself off, then offered his hand to Lisa. Lisa smacked his hand away and helped herself up. Jackson took a hold of her wrist again, though more gently this time, and pulled her back to the car.

"Right now I want you to get into your car, and don't try anything funny, Lease. I'm warning you." he instructed.

Lisa looked at him as he walked over to the passenger side seat, and she slowly lowered herself into the drivers seat. Once Jackson got in, he handed the car keys over to Lisa.

"Drive," he said.

Lisa just gave him a blank look.

"Lisa," Jackson said through clenched teeth, "I don't have time for this. Take the keys and drive."

"Where am I—"

"I don't care! Just drive."

Lisa did as she was told and drove out of the parking garage and down the street, casting glances at Jackson every few minutes to see what he was doing. He just sat in the seat with his hand resting on his hip, next to his KA-BAR.

_Why had he given her control of the car?_ Lisa wondered. _Was he really that stupid, or was his medication affecting his brain function?_ All Lisa had to do was unbuckle his seatbelt and slam on the breaks, and Mr. Rippner would fly forward and out the front window. It was just that simple, and yet, she knew that she couldn't do that.

The drive was silent and Jackson had yet to mention where they were going, so Lisa just cruised around town with no particular destination in mind. She tried to ignore the nagging voice in her head that was telling her that this was a waste of gas, but she reassured herself that, somehow, she was going to get Jackson to buy her next tank full.

"Pull over right here," Jackson said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the two.

Lisa gave him a strange look, but pulled over like he asked Once she turned of the car and unbuckled herself, she looked out the car window and up at her apartment.

"Why are we here?" she asked, more than confused.

Jackson turned to look at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "Leese...As much as I hate to admit it, I need your help."

- - - - - -

A/N: I tried to describe more in this chapter, Jaka Ray. :D How did I do? I'm not much of a writer, in fact, I'm down right sucky. But when I do write I have a straight forward style, and I tend to forget to go into detail. But if anyone mentions it to me, I'll be all "WTF? Oh. Okay, fine!" and fix it. :)

Thanks to Brittany, BregoBeauty, jaka ray, Drowned Queen, Greenday11,lola, andKazakichikfor the wonderful reviews! (This has got to be the first story I have written that hasn't received a flame!)

How about this: If you review, a chocolate covered Jackson will show up at your door step. (COUGH I may or may not be telling the truth...)


	4. Chapter Three: Slumber Party?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Red Eye or any characters in it. SOB. I wish I did.

**Chapter Three: Slumber Party**

Minutes seemed to pass like hours as Lisa blinked, staring wide eyed at Jackson. "Wait. Wait. Wait! ...What?" she rambled, knowing that she wasn't making much sense.

Jackson smirked, amused at her lack of words. "I need your help."

Lisa eyed the knife attached to his hip wearily. "You need...my help?"

Jackson shifted in his seat, becoming impatient. "Leese, do I need to repeat myself for a third time?"

"B-but I thought you were going to hurt me...kill me." she replied, still eying his KA-BAR.

Jackson followed her gaze to his hip, then he looked back up into her eyes. "I just used that for effect. Just like old times, remember?"

Lisa's mind was spinning. "So you won't hurt me...?"

"I wasn't planning on it."

"You promise?"

"I promise, and you know that I don't lie," he reassured her. Why was he reassuring her? _I must be going soft,_ he decided.

"Why do you need my help? I-I'm not going to make any calls for you. I won't." she stated with firmness in her voice.

"Don't worry, I don't need that type of help."

"Then what type of help do you need, Jackson? Why...does everyone think your dead?"

"I'll answer you're questions later, Leese. I just can't do it right now."

Lisa nodded, "Okay, I'll help you."

Jackson smiled at her, not a smirk, but an actual smile. "Good girl."

They got out of the car and made their way up to Lisa's apartment, Lisa keeping a safe distance from Jackson he whole way up.

Once they made it to the front door, Lisa began to rummage through her purse for her house key.

"Dammit," she mumbled.

While she as attempting to find her house keys in the bottomless pit she called a purse, Jackson slipped forward and opened the door with a key of his own. Lisa looked at him in surprise.

"Spare key," he said, answering her silent question.

"Spare key? SPARE KEY? You have a spare key to my house—" She screeched, before Jackson roughly covered her mouth and yanked her inside.

She struggled against his grip, and once the door was open, she threw his hands off of her. "That hurt!" she yelled at him.

"Like I said, I may have to use force from time to time. I can't have you waking up the whole apartment complex."

Lisa glared at him, then stomped up the stairs, leaving Jackson standing in the middle of her living room. Once she came back down, she had a blanket and pillow in hand, which she shoved in Jackson's face.

"You sleep on the couch," she said.

Jackson looked at the couch disdainfully. "Don't you treat your house guest better than this?"

Lisa growled at him, "I don't have special treatments for men who tried to kill me."

Jackson walked over to the couch and threw his stuff on it. "That was strictly business."

"Was chasing my around my fathers house with a knife business?"

Jackson went rigid, and then glanced over his shoulder at her. "I may...have gotten a bit angry that time."

Lisa smirked. She walked back over to the stairs and went to go back to her room. Stopping on the first stair, she turned around and looked at Jackson, who was now sprawled out on the couch.

"Good night, Jackson."

- - -

Lisa glanced at the clock, watching with blood shot eyes as the numbers changed from 3:48a.m. To 3:49a.m.

She really should be sleeping right now, but she couldn't. She had tried, oh had she tried; tossing and turning for hours, but sleep just wouldn't come.

Throwing the sheet to the foot of the bed, she sat up and sighed. She had a sudden craving for scrambled eggs. She slipped of the bed and stretched, threaded her fingers through her hair nervously. She was really hungry, but she didn't want to run the risk of waking up Jackson. She had let Jackson stay in her house. Why had she done that? If only she knew. Part of her pitied him, and part of her was sorry for causing this problem in her life. After all, it had been her that cause him to fail. Though that didn't change the fact that she had every right in the world to do what she did.

She padded barefoot down the hallway to the kitchen, being extra careful to step over her squeaky floor boards. As she came to the end of the hallway, she quietly peaked around to corner and into the living room. Jackson lay sprawled out on the couch, his leg was falling off of the edge, and the blanket she had given him was nestled down by his feet. Lisa smiled, he looked so... human when he slept. It was sort of cute...

Soundlessly, Lisa tip toed over to Jackson's sleeping form, and as carefully as possible, she pulled his blanket up to his chest. She couldn't have him catching a could, now could she?

She walked into the kitchen and jerked open the refrigerator, causing a bit more noise that she had planned to. She snapped her head to look over at Jackson, but he still seemed to be asleep. Whew, that was close. She reached into the back of the fridge and pulled out an egg and the milk carton, then she quietly shut the door.

"Wha'cha doing, Leese?"

Lisa screamed and her whole body jerked in surprise, causing her to toss her egg in the air, which Jackson gracefully caught before it smashed into the ground.

"Just as jumpy as always, I see," he chuckled.

Lisa's brow furrowed as she frowned at him. "Don't DO that. I nearly had a heart attack."

"Scrambled eggs at 3 o'clock in the morning? Some things never change."

Lisa shuddered slightly. She felt uncomfortable when she remembered that he had stalked her for eight weeks before the Keefe incident. Why had she agreed to let him stay here again?

The silence was becoming very uncomfortable in her very cramped kitchen, and it was starting to make Lisa a little twitchy.

"Do you want one?" She asked while scrambling her egg.

Jackson shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He moved over to the fridge and got his ingredients and handed it to Lisa, who then prepared a scramble egg for him.

They sat at the table silently, each eating their eggs. Lisa pushed her food around with her fork, having a sudden loss of appetite. Who wouldn't? She was eating eggs at 3 o'clock in the morning with her would-be assassin. That thought alone was enough to send her into a fit of giggle; which, incidentally, it did.

Her shoulders began to shake uncontrollably, and when she couldn't hold it in any longer, she let out a booming laugh. Jackson just stared on with amusement written in his ice blue eyes.

"Shes finally cracked," he murmured to himself.

Lisa continued to laugh, "It's just so funny!" she told him through her giggles.

"What is?"

"This whole situation. Look at me, Jackson. I'm sitting here, in my pajamas, having a late night snack with the man who tried to kill me. Isn't that even remotely funny to you?"

"Funny? Sure, Leese, whatever you say..." He said. Maybe she really had cracked...

- - - -

A/N: Well, I have some good news, and I have some bad news.

Good News: I finally updated this chapter!

Bad News: I only outlined the story up to this point, and I'm not really sure what direction I want to take it in. (The dreaded writers block!) So, any suggestions/ideas from the reviewers would be greatly appreciated. D


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